Notice GalNet changes
- Thread starter Stephen Benedetti
- Start date
Let's meet in the middle of the road - just reduce the frequency of these stories and that is all. Many of us actually enjoyed the off-camera stuff and fluff. I wasn't an avid reader of these, but when I was on exploration trip I was actually reading and catching up. Frankly I'm not happy with your decision, seriously don't not bring the short narratives to full stop.
You: "Show, don't tell"
Frontier: "don't show, also don't tell"
There should be things in the game where if a player is in the right place at the right time they can see it, things like:
1) A deep exploration survey ship coming back for exploration
2) Military transports moving around
3) Archeological surveys of planets etc
4) attacks on things
5) Diplomatic ships etc
All of these and more will give the game life where at present it's rather monochrome. Players could follow the ships even wing up with them to their destination of allowed. Simply put the possibilities are endless.
1) A deep exploration survey ship coming back for exploration
2) Military transports moving around
3) Archeological surveys of planets etc
4) attacks on things
5) Diplomatic ships etc
All of these and more will give the game life where at present it's rather monochrome. Players could follow the ships even wing up with them to their destination of allowed. Simply put the possibilities are endless.
Stephen Benedetti
Community Manager
The new Thargoid War feature on Inara is a good example of what could be classed as "In-game" content which should make it to the front page of Galnet.
Then more importantly, narrative plot could revolve around these statistics.
Asterope is the site of the most significant numbers of Thargoid Kills. Not the Witchhead. So what's significant about Asterope? Could that not be mentioned in a Galnet post?
In all likelihood It's probably something to do with the facilities but from a game perspective it could be something more. Obvs that's up to FD to come up with but it's that level of game play analysis which would tick the box for player driven content as I see it.
Then more importantly, narrative plot could revolve around these statistics.
Asterope is the site of the most significant numbers of Thargoid Kills. Not the Witchhead. So what's significant about Asterope? Could that not be mentioned in a Galnet post?
In all likelihood It's probably something to do with the facilities but from a game perspective it could be something more. Obvs that's up to FD to come up with but it's that level of game play analysis which would tick the box for player driven content as I see it.
Plenty of folks willing to contribute, myself included. Art of the possible and all that. The offer is there.
Cheers,
Drew.
Frontier, take this man up on his offer!
Yeah please throw CMDR's a bone who are waiting for 2020. More lore is better than less.
As someone who has been quite vocal and critical about GalNet, I have to admit that I see this as a negative.
The galaxy already seems a bit "dead", in the sense that there's no real difference between Achenaar, Sol, Alioth and thousands of other star systems. It's the same stories in GalNet with the only variation being how the local auto-generated stories are shown.
GalNet can be a lot more than just an automated dead-zone with a few sporadic human made articles thrown in. Now that we have squadrons, add a feature that allows squadrons to publish their own articles and stories and limit their publication to the systems the squadron has a presence. This would liven up the galaxy tremendously, as it gives each squadron the opportunity to advertise their presence in a system, as well as tell stories that would otherwise just get lost in the ether.
This would move most of the burden of filling GalNet with stories away from you (Frontier) and on to the player community, and allow you to focus on the overall stories while having the galaxy thrive with different stories all over the place.
The galaxy already seems a bit "dead", in the sense that there's no real difference between Achenaar, Sol, Alioth and thousands of other star systems. It's the same stories in GalNet with the only variation being how the local auto-generated stories are shown.
GalNet can be a lot more than just an automated dead-zone with a few sporadic human made articles thrown in. Now that we have squadrons, add a feature that allows squadrons to publish their own articles and stories and limit their publication to the systems the squadron has a presence. This would liven up the galaxy tremendously, as it gives each squadron the opportunity to advertise their presence in a system, as well as tell stories that would otherwise just get lost in the ether.
This would move most of the burden of filling GalNet with stories away from you (Frontier) and on to the player community, and allow you to focus on the overall stories while having the galaxy thrive with different stories all over the place.
Stephen Benedetti
Community Manager
Greetings, Commanders.
After reviewing the discussion around the upcoming GalNet changes, Ian Dingwall, Narrative Lead for Elite Dangerous, wanted to address some of your questions.
Hopefully this information will provide you with some clarity on why we feel these changes are important for the further development of Elite Dangerous.
What led to this decision?
Producing content for GalNet takes a significant amount of time, especially when you factor in conception, editing and translation. For me, content such as Interstellar Initiatives and the scenarios we added to the game last year have a greater impact on the game than off-camera GalNet storylines. So when we, as a team, look at the features and updates we intend to deliver in the coming months and years, we feel it’s in the best interest of the game to ensure the writing team can support those features, and make them the best they possibly can from a narrative point of view. Consequently, the decision to remove off-camera narratives is very much about refocusing the team, rather than reducing the amount of time and effort we devote to the narrative side of the game.
With these cutbacks will Interstellar Initiatives get more stores, details and lore?
Yes, by refocusing the writing team we will be able to produce more supporting content for Interstellar Initiatives. During the Bridging the Gap initiative it was pointed out – quite rightly – that reactions from Ram Tah and Aegis would have been appropriate. Refocusing our efforts means we can devote time to producing these kinds of ‘reaction’ pieces.
Can we expect to see more coverage on affairs with major player groups?
This is something we have discussed, and, while we don't have any concrete details for you right now, we fully intend to investigate this further.
Are the GalNet 'off-camera' stories getting totally removed, or just reduced?
For now, the plan is to remove them, but we may reassess this decision in the future. We’re always reviewing the changes we make to the game and their impact on the overall player experience, and adapting and adjusting where necessary.
Will the amount of GalNet content change? Will it increase or decrease?
It will decrease slightly overall, reflecting the fact that we are refocusing our efforts.
Is the team understaffed?
No, not at all – in fact we’re about to gain an additional full-time writer. But we have an ambitious production schedule ahead of us, and it was therefore necessary to reposition the writing team so it could properly support that schedule.
What will happen to GalNet Audio?
It will remain an aspect of the game – there are no plans to remove GalNet audio.
Was the Gan Romero story reflected in-game?
The Gan Romero storyline was always envisaged as an off-camera narrative. The fact that some people assumed it had an in-game component, and went searching for Romero, was for me further evidence that off-camera GalNet stories could be detrimental to the player experience, and cemented our desire to ensure that all GalNet content related to things that were actually in the game.
Will we ever hear of the conclusion of the Alliance Festival of Culture storyline?
Yes, all the remaining articles in the Alliance Festival of Culture storyline will be published.
Thanks for your understanding and let us know if you have any more questions!
After reviewing the discussion around the upcoming GalNet changes, Ian Dingwall, Narrative Lead for Elite Dangerous, wanted to address some of your questions.
Hopefully this information will provide you with some clarity on why we feel these changes are important for the further development of Elite Dangerous.
What led to this decision?
Producing content for GalNet takes a significant amount of time, especially when you factor in conception, editing and translation. For me, content such as Interstellar Initiatives and the scenarios we added to the game last year have a greater impact on the game than off-camera GalNet storylines. So when we, as a team, look at the features and updates we intend to deliver in the coming months and years, we feel it’s in the best interest of the game to ensure the writing team can support those features, and make them the best they possibly can from a narrative point of view. Consequently, the decision to remove off-camera narratives is very much about refocusing the team, rather than reducing the amount of time and effort we devote to the narrative side of the game.
With these cutbacks will Interstellar Initiatives get more stores, details and lore?
Yes, by refocusing the writing team we will be able to produce more supporting content for Interstellar Initiatives. During the Bridging the Gap initiative it was pointed out – quite rightly – that reactions from Ram Tah and Aegis would have been appropriate. Refocusing our efforts means we can devote time to producing these kinds of ‘reaction’ pieces.
Can we expect to see more coverage on affairs with major player groups?
This is something we have discussed, and, while we don't have any concrete details for you right now, we fully intend to investigate this further.
Are the GalNet 'off-camera' stories getting totally removed, or just reduced?
For now, the plan is to remove them, but we may reassess this decision in the future. We’re always reviewing the changes we make to the game and their impact on the overall player experience, and adapting and adjusting where necessary.
Will the amount of GalNet content change? Will it increase or decrease?
It will decrease slightly overall, reflecting the fact that we are refocusing our efforts.
Is the team understaffed?
No, not at all – in fact we’re about to gain an additional full-time writer. But we have an ambitious production schedule ahead of us, and it was therefore necessary to reposition the writing team so it could properly support that schedule.
What will happen to GalNet Audio?
It will remain an aspect of the game – there are no plans to remove GalNet audio.
Was the Gan Romero story reflected in-game?
The Gan Romero storyline was always envisaged as an off-camera narrative. The fact that some people assumed it had an in-game component, and went searching for Romero, was for me further evidence that off-camera GalNet stories could be detrimental to the player experience, and cemented our desire to ensure that all GalNet content related to things that were actually in the game.
Will we ever hear of the conclusion of the Alliance Festival of Culture storyline?
Yes, all the remaining articles in the Alliance Festival of Culture storyline will be published.
Thanks for your understanding and let us know if you have any more questions!
Clarity from Frontier. Bravo!
"But we have an ambitious production schedule ahead of us, and it was therefore necessary to reposition the writing team so it could properly support that schedule."
Interesting times are afoot
Interesting times are afoot
Thanks for being so transparent on this one.
Story arcs like this are the ones i always wanted to pursue , but due to years of being burned by the lack of correlating in game content by other stories, i just couldn't come around to pursuing it anymore.
Although my preference is/was being just able to identify the difference between background story and an in game pursuable arc... i can understand there refocus of efforts being necessary.
So again... 10/10 for the transparency.